Current Events in the Americas

As if the F-35B program wasn't in enough trouble already ... Major F-35B Component Cracks in Fatigue Test

From DefenseNews' Intercepts blog [excerpt]

At last some of punch, USS Coronado fires NSM: http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140724/DEFREG02/307240028/LCS-Conduct-Test-Norwegian-Missile

Long Chain of Failures Left Sailors Unprepared to Fight USS Bonhomme Richard Fire, Investigation Finds (USNI News) BHR Command Investigation (434 pp, PDF) Major Fires Review (60 pp, PDF)

Los Angeles Times December 9, 2005 Lockheed In U.S. Airship Deal By Reuters Lockheed Martin Corp. won a $149-million contract Thursday to build a prototype unmanned airship about 17 times the size of a Goodyear blimp that would hover about 60,000 feet above the Earth. The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said the High-Altitude Airship would be untethered, be able to remain in place for one month over a designated place, and be able to carry as many as 500 pounds of sensors that could detect enemy ballistic missiles. Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner said the program was aimed at exploring the possibility of using the airship to track and detect ballisti…

CV32: The failure of this entire program is a rather sad state of affairs. Fraud, if borne out, will only add to the misery. From gCaptain [excerpt]

http://www.defense-aerospace.com AMARILLO, Texas --- Bell Boeing delivered the first Block B version of the V-22 Osprey today to the U.S. Marine Corps in ceremonies at Bell's manufacturing facility here. The Block B aircraft has software upgrades, reliability and maintainability improvements over existing V-22 aircraft. It was accepted by Col. Bill Taylor, PMA 275 Program Manager, Naval Air Systems Command, who has responsibility for the management of the V-22 Program for the Government, and LtGen Jim Amos, Commanding General, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force. The aircraft will enter service with Marine Corps squadron VMM 263 at Marine Corps Air Station new River,…

DDG 1000 program will end at two ships By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Jul 23, 2008 7:04:43 EDT The once-vaunted Zumwalt-class DDG 1000 advanced destroyer program — projected in the late 1990s to produce 32 new ships and subsequently downscaled to a seven-ship class — will instead turn out only two ships, according to highly-placed sources in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. Instead of more 1000s, the Navy will continue to build more Arleigh Burke-class DDG 51 destroyers, construction of which had been slated to end in 2012. Top Navy and Pentagon brass met Tuesday to make the decision, which means the service will ask Congress t…

From Air Force Magazine Daily Report [excerpt]

Lots of pics. Boeing's new tricked out Advanced Super Hornet (DefenseNews, Intercepts blog)

From Marine Corps Times Ospreys start to fly, but most still grounded By Trista Talton - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Feb 14, 2007 6:24:46 EST Roughly two to three weeks will pass before all of the Defense Department’s V-22 Ospreys will be back in the air after the fleet was grounded last week, a program spokesman said Tuesday. The tilt-rotors were grounded Feb. 6 after a fault caused by a computer chip in the aircraft’s flight control computers was discovered during pre-flight testing at the Bell Boeing facility in Amarillo, Texas. The Osprey has three flight control computers, which back each other up in case one malfunctions. The chip in question i…

From Air Force Times Reaper ready to deploy next month By Tom Vanden Brook - USA Today Posted : Tuesday Aug 28, 2007 6:23:41 EDT CREECH AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. — The Air Force next month will deploy a new generation of pilotless airplane with the bombing power of an F-16 to help stop the stubborn Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. The Reaper is an upgraded version of the Predator, which has become one of the military’s most sought-after planes since it first appeared in Afghanistan in 2001. The Reaper can fly three times as fast as a Predator and carry eight times more weaponry, such as Hellfire missiles, the Air Force said. The Reaper’s greater range and s…

From DefenseNews U.S. Navy To Stand Up New 4th Fleet By mark d. faram Published: 24 Apr 13:33 EDT (09:33 GMT) The U.S. Navy will create a 4th Fleet headquartered at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., and will tap a two-star SEAL officer to lead it, according to a Pentagon announcement April 24. Rear Adm. Joseph Kernan, head of Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, Calif., has been chosen to command the new fleet. Kernan will take control of both 4th Fleet and the current Naval Forces Southern Command, the Navy component of U.S. Southern Command. The command will oversee maritime operations in Central and South American waters, and is similar to the comman…

From Aviation Week USAF Pilot Critiques Red Flag Action Nov 5, 2008 David A. Fulghum and Graham Warwick Indian pilots flying Su-30MKIs are extremely professional, but they're still learning how to best fight with their new aircraft. That opinion comes from an unidentified, senior F-15 pilot taped while briefing senior retired U.S. Air Force officers about the most recent Red Flag exercise. The video was made available online at YouTube.com. The French pilots flying the new Dassault Rafale appeared to be there to collect electronic intelligence on the Indian aircraft, contends the USAF pilot, who wears an Air Force Weapons School graduate patch. The F…

From Defence Aerospace LPD 17 Successfully Completes Builder's Sea Trials (Source: US Naval Sea Systems Command; issued May 11, 2005) PASCAGOULA, Miss. --- San Antonio, first ship of the LPD 17 Class, returned to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (NGSS) Pascagoula facility after successfully demonstrating performance during Builder's Sea Trials. Having accomplished significant pier-side systems testing and dock trials, this underway testing was a critical milestone on the path to ship delivery. NGSS conducted a complete range of tests including ship maneuvering and steering, propulsion and propulsion controls, mission systems, auxiliary systems, and combat syst…

here Can someone enlighten me as to why shooting down a ballistic missile in its "final seconds of flight" versus further away is a good thing? I can see as a last defense against missiles which have gotten through the longer range defenses, but any type of "weapons of mass effects - WME" warhead such as chemical or biological agents would still be dispersed over a wide area by the destruction of the missile.

Navy Has Finalized Specifications for New Ohio-Replacement Boomer (USNI News)

From Navy Times Navy awards Northrop $2.4B contract for LHA 6s The Associated Press Posted : Saturday Jun 2, 2007 16:07:28 EDT PASCAGOULA, Miss. — The U.S. Navy has awarded a $2.4 billion contract to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems to design and build the first replacement amphibious assault ship. The work will be done at Northrop’s shipyards in Pascagoula and New Orleans. The contract, announced Friday, will fund construction of the first, next-generation “bid-deck” amphibious ship, dubbed LHA 6. The Navy said Northrop is expected to deliver the ship by 2012. The ship will have such enhanced capabilities as an enlarged hangar deck, expanded mainte…

A United State Navy Captain and former Astronaut - How PATHETIC. Please delete if you feel it has no place here at HG. Former astronaut aims for insanity defense By Travis Reed - The Associated Press Posted : Tuesday Aug 28, 2007 16:06:14 EDT ORLANDO, Fla. — Former astronaut Navy Capt. Lisa Nowak is pursuing a temporary insanity defense on charges that she assaulted and tried to kidnap a romantic rival, according to a court document released Tuesday. Nowak suffered from major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, insomnia and “brief psychotic disorder with marked stressors,” defense attorney Donald Lykkebak wrote. He said the already-petite woman…

Analysts: Air power crucial upon new threat By William H. McMichael - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Jan 15, 2008 6:19:03 EST If the U.S. were to face a new conventional threat, its military could not respond effectively without turning to air power, officials and analysts say. That is the ultimate upshot of the war in Iraq: a response elsewhere would consist largely of U.S. fighters and bombers — even, perhaps, some degree of nuclear strike — because so many ground troops are tied up in Operation Iraqi Freedom. And that leaves at least some senior U.S. leaders and analysts crossing their fingers. “I believe that we, as a nation, are at risk of mission…